Artificial tooth



C. E. TUTTLE.

y ARTIFICIAL TOOTH. APPLICATION FILED JAN. IB, Isls.

mma July 12, 1921.

V1,38%,Q82D

I Invenror. Garenne E. TufHe.

.UNITED lSTATES, PATENT OFFICE.

CLAnnNcE n TUTTLE, or BEADVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS. AnTIiiCIAL TooTH.

Specieation of Letters Patent.

` Patented July 12, 1921.

Application led January 18, 1918. Serial No. 212,424.

dentist keeping in stoc teeth of one 'nd for plate work and teeth of another kind for use in crowning or capping the stumps of natural teeth.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel artificial tooth which can be attached ,to the late or to a tooth stump without the use et) pins. The method now commonly used for Aattachin artificial teeth to plates involves the use o metal pins which are-usually oflplatinum but the resent ex tremelylhigh cost. of platinum ma es the use of Such pins almost prohibitive. My invention does not require the use of such metallic P1118- Another object of my invention 1s to pro'- vide a novel'artiiicial tooth which can be'at- I tached to a plate without carrying the ma.-

terial of the plate over or around the sides of plate having artificial teeth thereon which embody my i invention, each of the artificial teeth is exosed to the same extent as the corresponding natural teeth of a person, so that when the plate is worn, the teeth have the same feel to the tongue .of the' wearer as natural teeth would have.

Other objects ofy my invention will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

In order to give an understanding of my invention I lhave illustrated in the drawin some selected embodiments thereofwhich will now be described, after which the novel features willbe pointed out in the appended claim.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tooth embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a reduced sectional view thereofon the line 22, Fi .1;

Figs. 3 and 4 show how the artificial tooth used equally mouth.

may be applied to a stump of a natural tocth;

ig. 5 i s a view showin m im ro ed tooth applied t o a rubber p ate ;y p .v

ig. 6 is a similar view showing my improved tooth applied to a metal plate;

Fig. is an enlarged section 'on the line 7--7, Fig. 5

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing a dilier-l ent manner of securing my improved tooth to u a metal' plate;

ig. 9 1s a sectional view showing another way of applying tooth stump. It w 1l1 be understood, of course, that my invention may be embodied in an artificial tooth adapte for any location in the mouth and the exterior shape of the tooth will depend upon the particular location in the I have shown in the drawings both a front tooth and a molar, but th equally applicable to other teeth.

The front toothk illustrated is indicated at'l and itis 'madeofiporcelainlorany other suitable substance. It is formed with an interior cavity `2 Ywhich extends from the base ing a progreively-increasing width from a point near the' basato the bottom in at lefasthone trlansverse o e toot will referably be sha to lit firmly against t e plate 5, the partisfililar shape ofthe base being suit the shape ofthe plate at dierent loca# tions. l

Figs. 5 and 7 show the tooth secured to a rubber plate 5. To secure the tooth in place the cavity 2 is filled with soft unvulanized rubber and then the tooth is placed 1n plate has been shaped, but 4before it has been vulcanized. If the plate is one having a full set of teeth thereon, then each'of the teeth of the plate will be treated as above described, that is, the cavit of each tooth will be filled with the so unvulcanized rubber, and after the teeth lhave been pro erly 'positioned relative to each other on t e plate, the plate is vulcanized in usual manner. The proce of vulcanizing integrally unitesl the material 6 which fills the cavity 2 and the plate so that when the' vulcanizing process is complete, the plate will have as integral portions thereof the anchoring proe invention is A varied, of course, to.

my improved tooth to aA 3, toward the end `or tip 4, said cavity 2 hav- 1 direction. The base 3 jections 6 which lill the cavities of the teeth. Since these projections are of graduallyincreasing width from a'polnt near the base of the tooth to the bottom of the cavity 1n at least one transverse direction, each tooth will be firmly secured to the plate. This manner of securing the teeth to the plate obviates the necessity of maklng the late so that'the base or inside portlons o the teeth will be covered by or embedded 1n the rubber, as is now the more or less common practice. The presence of such rubber on the outside of the teeth gives the teeth an i unnatural feel to the tongue and an unsightly appearance.

With my -invention the portion of the artificial tooth which is exposed from the plate is the same as that of the correspondlng natural tooth .so that when the plate is worn, the portions of the teeth wlth which the tongueqcontacts has the same feel to the tongue and the same appearance as natural teeth would have.

In securing my improved artilicial tooth to a meta-l plate, as shown in Fig. 6, I propose to form the metal plate at the point where each tooth is to be secured with an aperture 8 with tapering walls so that it is larger at the inside of the plate than at the outside. The cavity 2 of each tooth is then filled with cement, unvulcanizedl rubber, or gutta percha, and the teeth are placed in position on the plate and at the same time the apertures 8 are filled with cement, rubber or gutta percha. When the cement or gutta percha sets, or the rubber is vulcanized, each tooth willbe irmlyjsecured to the plate 5 by the anchoring mass 7 of cement, vulcanized rubber or gutta reha.

In Fig. 8 I have shown a slighty different way of securing my improved tooth to a metal plate. The metal plate illustrated is formed with a` projection or lu 13 which is adapted to occupy the cavity 2 o the tooth when the latter is in position. This lug will preferably have an aperture therethrough and may be made by soldering a loop of wire to the plate,`or inrany other suitable way, provided it is formed with some sort of opening. The cavity 2 of the tooth will be filled with gutta percha 14 or some other suitable cementitious substance. and the tooth will then be placed in position on the plate 5 so that the projection 13 will enter the cavity 2 and become embedded in the cemen-titious substance 14. When said (cementitious substanceV hardens, the tooth will be rmly anchored to the plate by reason of the. fact that the anchoring material 14 is interlocked both with the projection and. with the tooth.

In all of the embodiments of the invention above described the base of each tooth rests firmly against the plate so that the pressure on the tooth 1s transmitted directly to the plate and the means by which each tooth is secured to the plate 1s situated entirely within the tooth and not exterlo thereto.

The tooth above described canv be used e ually well as a cap or crown for the stump ci a natural tooth. Such a use is shown in Fig. 3 wherein 9 indicates the natural tooth stump. To use my improved tooth in this way, the stump will rst be prepared by trimming down the exposed portion 10 thereof so as to form a shoulder 11. The small or outer end of the cavity 2 of the tooth is then enlarged so that said end will fit the part of the reduced portion 10 of the stump which is adjacent the shoulder 11, and the face 3 of the tooth is shaped to fit the shoulder 11. Suitable cement 15 is then introduced into the cavity 2 and the tooth is applied to the portion 10 of the stump, as shown in Fig. 3, and when the cement hardens, the tooth Will be anchored to the stump. In order to use the tooth as the cap for a stump it is only necessary to enlarge the end of the cavity adjacent the face 3 to fit the stump. The enlarged lower end of the cavity which remains'constitutes a space for receiving the cement and is thus an important feature of the invention where the device is used as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 illustrates my improved tooth as applied to a live stump; F1g.'4 shows how the tooth might be applied to a dead stump. The nerve cavity of the dead stump will be cleaned out and then an anchoring pin 19 may be placed therein and anchored in place by means of suitable cement 20. lThe' anchoring pin 19 is shown as provided with a head 21 which projects beyond the stump so that when the tooth 1 is applied to the Vstump the head-21 will be entered into the cavity 2. The cementitious substance 20 fills the cavity to the stump. Y

In capping or crowning some stumps of teeth, it is possible to apply the crown so that substantially the entire portion of the tooth which shows is the artificial tooth. Under other circumstances the stump may be of such shape that it may be necessary or desirable to use a ortion only of the articial tooth, such, or instance, as that below the dotted line a in Fig. 2, in which case the face 3 of the tooth may be ground off so as to reduce the artificial tooth to the desired size. Since the cavity 2 in the tooth is shaped so that its portion of largest crosssectional area is at the bottom of the cavity, the tooth will still have a cavity lar er at the bottom than at the top even thoug it is reduced in size to the portion below the 2 and thus anchors the tooth dotted lines in Fig. 2, and this is an important feature of the invention.

In Fig. 9 I have shown a tooth embodying my invention used as a crown for the .stump 'lill of a molar tooth. The tooth stump is indi cated at 22 and it is represented as a dead stump. The nerve cavities 23. of the stump are cleaned out and then anchoring pins 24 are cemented therein, these pins projecting beyond the face of the stump so that when the tooth 1 is applied the ends of the pin will enter the o avlty 2 thereofa The cavity 2 will be filled with cement as above described, and when the cement hardens er sets, it will anchor the tooth to the Apine 2d which in turn are secured to the stump so that the artificial teeth l. ie rmly held in piece.

will thus be eeen that my improved tooth can be universally used for various kinde ezt dentali Work arid `that ne are employed in attaching it; to either 'the plate or the stump il claire:

.de 'an article of manufacture an articiai teeth adapted to be used either orplate work er to crown a tooth etump, said artificial tooth having a base face which. is concaved from the front to the back of the tooth and also having a iat bottom cavity situated within its body and extending from its base well toward the tip, said cavity having a progressivel -decreasing cross-sectional area from said at bottom to a. point near the concaved base face of the tooth and havin a progressivel -increasing cross-sectiona area `from sai point to the base face, said concaved base face being arranged to t a plate when the tooth is .used for plate work, said concaved base face being of a material which can be ground oi' when it is desired to provide a tooth suitable to crowna 'tooth stump, the cavity in the tooth being uncleetructed and free from projections extend 

